Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The Best?

Unless you live under some sort of rock you've undoubtedly seen or at least heard about Richard Sherman's post game interview. Sadly after the game was over not one person on my social media feed said "That was one hell of a pick!" EVERYONE was talking about Sherman's post game rant.

From calling him a thug, to calling him classless, a bad sport, egotistical, a poor role model... you name it, it was out there. On Sunday night everyone had their own version of how out of line Sherman was for not only what he said, but how he said it. He was boastful, belligerent and unapologetic. As we watched I shook my head. As I read the comments, I shook my head.

In the days since, people have posted their own variations as to why he had the right to do what he did and as to why he doesn't deserve the comments and labels thrown out at him. I've heard how he graduated high school second in his class. I've heard how he has a degree from Stanford in Communications. I've heard how the other guy started it. I've heard how it's not athletes jobs to be role models, it's parent's jobs to be role models for their children. I've heard it. I've read it. And I've shaken my head.

I've shaken my head for several reasons: 1. We live in America. We live in a country that has given us the right to say what we want to say, when we want to say it, how we want to say it. 2. We live in a world that is lawsuit happy and blame happy and contradictorily we don't hold anyone accountable for what they say or the effect it has due to fact  #1.

And the head shaking continued.

Football is a team sport. In fact it's a large team sport. There isn't a single play in the NFL that doesn't require 11 men from one team to be on the field at the same time. That means 11 men are working together and everyone has their role on the field. While Sherman's deflection on the field was incredible, it's his teammate who caught the deflected ball for the interception who won the game. If he had merely batted the ball away, the 49ers would have life left in them and would have attempted it again. Yet in the interviews given, no credit was given to his linebacker who caught the deflection. There was no credit or acknowledgment of the other 30+ players that took part in some portion of Sunday's game. Not his QB. Not the receivers. Not the team. Me, me, me. I, I, I.

With arrogance and hostility in both body language and tone Sherman unloaded, putting down his rival teammate and talking about what a "sorry" and "mediocre" receiver Crabtree is. If he's "sorry" and "mediocre", you are not Daniel against the Lion, you were the Lion against Daniel. If you perform better than someone that you call "mediocre" while in the same breath calling yourself "the best" then all you have done is meet the standard. You haven't proven anything. Someone who is ranked number one SHOULD beat someone who isn't in the top 20. It's the same thing I tell my children after mass on Sunday. I will compliment my one year old and four year old on their behavior, but for the nine year old, it is expected of him to behave and be reverent in church.

As I watched and listened, shaking my head with my kids sitting on the couch, their mouths agape. I prepared myself for damage control. Kid #1 said "Oh my Gosh! That was just horrible." Kid #2 said "He was really mean." Kid #3 ate some stale cheerios she found under the couch cushion.

What to say? What to do? First I threw away the remaining stale cheerios. Second, the kids and I talked about being a gracious winner and a good sport. I tell my kids at their sporting events and activities, "Act like you've been there before. Act like you've won before.... even if you haven't." We're not sore losers. We're not sore winners. I'm glad they understood the error of Sherman's ways. I'm thankful they don't watch sports figures and depend on them as role models, but the fact is that they watch sports figures and dream.

I remember watching the USA women's softball team in the Olympics in 1996 and dreaming of being there. I remember seeing the US Women's Soccer team win the world cup and dreaming. There's an empowerment and freedom felt as a child watches someone achieve greatness. Kids look at the President and think "That could be me." Kids were watching Sherman make an incredible play thinking "That could be me." Then they watched this moment of greatness be followed up by a moment of sheer selfishness. My hope is that the kids watching the interview watched it and said "That will NEVER be me."

While Sherman has spoken out saying "To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field -- don't judge a person's character by what they do between the lines, judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family." The judgement passed wasn't for what you did between the lines. If it was, everyone would be talking about the incredible deflection. What you did for a community, however, was leave it scratching and shaking their heads.

You are an intelligent man. You knew exactly what you were doing and who you were reaching with your antics and words.  It doesn't matter who started it, what matters is who finished it. And you finished it by taking what should have been a moment celebrating a team's accomplishments over a whole season, and turned it in to a one man show celebrating you and belittling someone else. That doesn't make you the best. Not in this playbook

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